The MPW (Multi Project Wafer) business model allows fabrication of different devices (or integrated circuits, ICs) on the same wafer using the same set of masks. In an MPW service, different devices might use different process technologies with different number of mask layers.
In a MPW service, the mask tooling (MT) information of each product is described in different MT Form. Therefore, there are several MT Forms with different masking information created for a MPW service. Before making a mask-set for a MPW project, a TIP (Tooling Information Preparation) is prepared first. The key operation of the TIP preparation is mask tooling circuit layer information translation, in which, all different MT Forms are normalized to meet the TIP specification.
In the prior art, the circuit layer translation was done manually. This caused the potential risk of mis-operation and was time-consuming.